Less Than Magical
by Naursul
Summary: Harry falls for a beautiful girl (Amanda, character based on my friend) and discovers she is a muggle- what to do?
1. You're in my Way

"You're in my way."  
  
Harry sighed. It was the middle of July, birds were too tired and sluggish to sing, the trees sagged with humidity. Drops of sweat formed on Harry's forehead as he leaned on a postbox outside of McDonald's. He was waiting for the Dursleys to come out, but he was sure they were making him wait on purpose. They probably wanted him to get heat stroke, or at least a really bad sunburn. He had taken off his glasses and couldn't see very clearly, but they wouldn't stop sliding down his nose. He heard an annoyed voice behind him inform him rudely that he was in their way again, and he pulled his arm off the postbox.   
  
"Thank you." Harry saw a blurrly form go to the postbox, and mosty likely drop a letter in. He sighed again, this mailing process seemed so primitive. Owl post was much easier, quicker, and a lot more fun. He pulled out his glasses to see the person, sticking them at the top of his sweaty nose, he had nothing better to do. When the person came into view, Harry tried not to stare. She was tall, a few inches taller than Harry, and she had smooth shoulder length hair. It was a brown so dark it was almost black, streaked a soft reddish color. She had gold skin and dark eyebrows. He could have sworn she was a witch. He refrained from saying anything about magic to her, although he desperately wanted to know who, or what, she was.   
  
She was looking at him strangely, then opened her mouth to say something to him. But Harry couldn't hold his tongue any longer.  
  
"Why don't you use owl post?" he blurted out, then cursed his able tongue. Why did he say that?? She frowned, puzzled.  
  
"The what?"  
  
"Uh, it's what my friends and I call email, erm, sorry..." he tried to cover up his stupid blunder. He'd never actually used the internet, the Dursleys would never allow it, but he'd heard Uncle Vernon refer to "that damned email server" at dinner conversations. The girl smiled. Harry breathed a sigh of relief.   
  
"What's your name?" she asked curiously. Harry trembled. She wanted to know his name! She wanted to know who he was! He smiled back to her; this was a new experience for Harry. Everyone in the magical world knew his name, and knew his scar. His hand jerked up to that scar involuntarily, and he traced the lightening symbol cautiously, with his index finger.  
  
"Harry. Harry Potter." he breathed quietly. He looked into her eyes. She smiled softly and shrugged. Harry never thought it could feel so good to have someone not recognize you. Just in this moment, his happiness was broken by the Dursleys storming out of McDonalds and grabbing Harry, dragging him over to the Dursley car. He had no idea what had happened, and didn't really care, but he got the feeling that Dudley had raised some sort of fuss in McDonalds and the Dursleys were asked to leave. In any case, Harry was being dragged away from his beautiful muggle, and he wasn't too happy about it. He mouthed the word "bye" to her, as he was pulled off he saw her shocked expression. Before he was thrown in the car, she rushed up to his side, eyes still wide with bewilderment.  
  
"I'm Amanda, by the way." she said apologetically. Then Harry's door was slammed, and they drove off, but looking through the back window, he saw she was still standing there as they headed home.  
  
  
  
  
(don't own Harry Potter or McDonalds, but I do own Amanda till she gives me back myself) 


	2. Love at First Sight?

Amanda. Harry sat on his bed and sighed the name, it was beautiful, she was beautiful.  
  
Amanda.   
  
He wished he could tell his friends about her right away. He closed his eyes and imagined what Hermione and Ron would say if they knew. If he described her beauty, Ron would cheer him on, teasing him about his love for a muggle. Hermione would look with disgust at Ron, then tell Harry she thought this "Amanda" was pretty lucky. Then she would go study. Harry smiled. He wished he was with them right now. He heard a knocked on his bedroom door.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Mum wants to talk to you. She doesn't look happy, I think she's going to lock you in again! Hah!" Dudley snickered on the other side of the door. Harry had wanted to use magic on Dudley more than once; again, he held himself back. He opened the door and, shooting the pig of a cousin on the other side a nasty look, trotted down the stairs. Even his horsefaced aunt couldn't put him out of the good mood Amanda had put him in. He stopped dead when he reached the foot of the stairs. There in the living room stood his aunt, livid, but with a false smile pasted on her pale face. But there next to her was the girl he had been daydreaming about.   
  
"Harry! I found you!" Amanda walked up to him. "Uh," she turned and glanced at his aunt. "Can we speak alone?" Harry's heart skipped a beat. He looked to Aunt Petunia, and could tell she wanted him to get this strange girl out of her house now. He smiled over Amanda's shoulder at his fuming aunt.  
  
"Of course. The garden. Follow me!" He led her out to the garden, sneaking a glance at the now explosive Petunia. They reached the garden, it was about 8:30, and the sun was almost done setting, the temperature dropping to a warm, still night. Frogs could be heard beginning to make a croaking sound, the air smelled soft and fresh. Summer fireflies buzzed around the two of them.  
  
"Oh Harry." she breathed in blissfully. She smiled at him again, that wonderful smile. All of a sudden he wanted to kiss her more than anything in the world. He was experiencing a strange sensation that he hadn't ever felt before. He thought for a moment that he'd rather stay here in the garden than be anywhere else in the world, even Hogwarts. He remembered his last Hogwarts year, how it had ended, with the death of Cedric, and no longer wanted to dwell on those thoughts. A small voice inside his head spoke to him, saying,   
  
"Who cares if Voldemort rises again? Amanda, she's what matters." Harry tried to quench those thoughts, knowing Voldemort must never rise to power again, but they persisted. He swallowed his great desire to kiss her, and instead asked her a question.  
  
"Why did you come find me? And how--" he stopped short, for her lips were already reaching for his. He leaned into her and kissed her lovingly, and they held each other in this embrace for what seemed like an eternity. Finally she pulled back, embarrassed at herself. But Harry did not want the kiss to end. His hand carressed her cheek, his breath was shaky and fast. He felt so very strange, as if something about the kiss was wrong, or forbidden, but her skin was so warm. She grabbed his hand and pushed something into it, and gave him a peck on the cheek with her beautiful lips. She smiled and rushed off, out of the garden onto the dark street. Harry felt as if part of him had just been ripped out. Then he looked at the little note inside his palm.  
  
Amanda Miller  
2543 Marnatee Street  
Love at first sight?  
  
Harry closed his eyes. Tomorrow, he would visit her. Somehow, whether the Dursleys allowed it or not, he'd find a way. 


	3. Dreamland

A/n: Ah, finally, an update. This chapter took me an awfully long time, but thanks to Stykes' advice, I tried to take it slower. Love to my beta reader, Lucky, who'll be leaving me soon (sniffle). In other words, if anyone wants to help me out as a beta reader, offer criticisms on the story before I publish it, email me. Your help will be appreciated :-D.  
  
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Harry opened his eyes, and felt himself staring into greyish fog. It was hard to breathe, the fog was so thick. Harry got up from his sitting position, looking around, trying to get his head above the stifling mist. Eventually, he gave up, and stepped forward, very carefully. He heard a slight, muffled splash under his feet, the mist must have settled after some rainstorm. He walked forward, a little faster, with a little more confidence, his feet splashing lightly in the liquid under him. He plodded along, almost unconciously, wondering when he'd ever get to the end of the mist, or see what lay beyond it. Eventually, the mist started to fade, to a point where he could see several feet ahead of him. Around 20 feet away, it looked like there was another sleeping form lying in the murky water. Harry hurried over to it, ready to help it wake up, crouching next to it. He lost his balance for a moment, slamming his hand into the water under him. Shaking it off, he reached up to his face to push some of his black hair from his eyes. He breathed in sharply, shaking- the water on his hand was crimson. He shuddered, hoping to death it was not blood, and turning over the body next to him. Harry felt nauseous, there was a gash across the person's chest and throat, seeping blood, the same blood Harry realized that was on his hand. He glanced up at the face, trying not to be sick, and screamed. It was Hermione. He cradled her form against him, tears rolling down his face, his screams muffled by an endless fog.  
  
***  
  
Harry sat up fast, his ears ringing, his scar tearing at his forehead. He was breathing fast, sweaty from his fear. He'd had nightmares before, but somehow, something had made sense. This one had not. He hadn't even thought of Hermione before he'd gone to sleep, but was thinking of Amanda instead. He sighed, her name somehow calmed him. Yet the ringing in his ears persisted, until Harry realized it was the telephone downstairs. He dragged himself out of bed, pulled on some old clothes, and trudged down the stairs into the kitchen. Vaguely, he wondered where the Dursleys were, and why they weren't picking up the phone, then he had to focus all his energy on the person on the other line. Unfortunately, Harry began to yawn as soon as he began to talk.  
  
"Fo Pived Die, Duzzy 'esidenze, Ha-ay speekin." he croaked.  
  
"Well, don't you sound lively this morning, 'Ha-ay.'" giggled a clever voice from the other line.  
  
"Hermione?" Harry said nervously, overcoming his yawn. "You called me at home? If the Durselys ever found out that you--"  
  
"I took the necessary precautions, Harry. Don't worry. I made sure your awful relatives would be out of the house as soon as I called."  
  
"Dare I ask how?"  
  
"A simple phone call saying White Mountain has an all you can eat special on ice cream. If you don't mind me saying so, they spoil your cousin rotten."  
  
"Ha."  
  
"Well, anyway, I called because, well... this is a little hard to explain. It seems very strange, and I would have written you if it weren't so urgent."  
  
Harry's stomach jumped. Somehow, he knew just what Hermione was about to say. However, it seemed unwise to say such a thing, so he said, "Go on."  
  
"I had this awful dream, I've just now woken up from it, and... someone came after me. It was this pretty, tall girl, she looked kind of like she might be magical, but, I don't think so. She was very nice, I just talked to her, when everything seemed to get foggy. It was hard to see, and she tripped over my foot. Somehow when she came in contact with me, her skin ripped at mine. Then, this mysterious girl just disappeared, and I was all alone, bleeding, lying on the ground with the mist all around me." Hermione swallowed audibly. "Harry, everything went black then, I guess."  
  
"Why did you call me? It must just be a nightmare of some kind, don't worry, they aren't that uncommon." Harry tried to remain calm, but found his voice was quivering.  
  
"This girl, had a bright white mark imprinted in her hand. It took me a minute to remember where I'd seen it before- it was your scar, Harry. Your lightening bolt." 


End file.
